For those of you who don’t know Katie and I took a little trip this weekend to Saint John, New Brunwick fro a variety of reasons and we got back this afternoon. Since the Raptors are getting their ass kicked I might as well try to catch up on the trip before I forget it.

Car all packed

Loaded up the car, said our goodbyes to the farm and we were on the road by 9:15am. Not bad considering Katie does not see the light of day on the weekend til much later. Headed out onto the 102 W and got the car tunes pumping. The plan was to get some distance behind us before stopping for some food. I drove the first leg as the drizzle made it less than ideal conditions for driving. Lots of mist trailing all the cars on the highway so Katie was not to interested in driving in that stuff.

Run for the border

After stopping for gas on one of the reserves we got back on the road and said so long to the giant statue of a native. It was funny because it was point ass out to the highway, a subtle shot? After going through the toll booth we were off to the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and a date with some kind of food. It was around here that Katie started talking about a well known Maritimes eatery known as the Big Stop. They were Irving gas station diners that were what I would call a truck stop. Kind of like the Fifth Wheels that I grew up with in Ontario. Now with all this talk of the Big Stop I was very hungry. Low and behold about 30 seconds over the border there was the first of many Big Stops so of course we stopped.

Who is the smartest?

We had a brief wait for a table and once we were seated I noticed they had this little peg game on each table that was like an IQ test. You had to hop pegs like checkers and see how many pegs there were left at the end. Katie and I both got it down to three so I guess we were equally smart. In Katie’s defense she only tried once and I took four cracks at it.

Big Stop, Big meal

I had this enormous western skillet that was very good and Katie had a burger and a mountain of fries. Those fries did not get fully finished and I know somewhere Kev was sighing. I have to say for my first Big Stop experience I have to say Big ups.

Here we come Saint John

Back on the road and now “Katie Cruise” was behind the wheel. Yep for the first time Katie got to try out the cruise control and it is safe to say she is in love with it. It was not long after this that she was even passing people on the highway who were getting in the way of staying on course. We got in the habit of using the term “blowing the doors off” everytime we passed someone and by the end of the trip Katie was blowing a lot of doors off. With Moncton in the rearview mirror we were close to our destination. The inn we were staying at.

The dinner fiasco

I wish I had the means to take down a restaurant, to blaze a trail of bad press that would make someone never go there. This is how both Katie and I felt when we left the Church Street Steakhouse in Saint John. We both felt this bad taste in our mouth that left us wishing there was something more we could do. The place was portrayed as an above average place, fancier than a pub but not quite Canoe for those of you in TO. The prices were high and to be honest the food was very good. So here is the bad. I will detail this so you can try to feel the pain we went through.

  • We were asked if we had reservations, again giving it the feel of a fancy place.
  • The waiter guy said they had two tables free and even suggested which was the better choice.
  • So we sat at this table, one was wobblie and the other was on a definite slant because the whole room was. It was clearly an old building but whatever it was not their fault.
  • So this table was close to door of the kitchen and where the staff would mill around. The place was empty and there was no music or anything to drown out kitchen talk.
  • We could hear every stupid conversation the staff was having including this one girl who was going on about how to use facebook. It was painful when we were there to have a nice dinner.
  • Just over half way through the meal the waitress comes over and asks us if she can take the table that is against the one we are using. Katie gave her a death stare and said we are actually almost finished if you can wait.
  • This is wear it got brutal. Clearly they sat us at a table that had a reservation and the people were here.
  • So I ordered another beer and it never came. At this point I did not really want it anymore because the whole point was to get it while Katie finished. Then it came and the bill came right after it.
  • Guess what, no dessert offer at all. That really steamed us.
  • So after taking our sweet time to pay we finally left as our origional waiter basically said sorry to rush you but we got people waiting.
  • When we were about to leave we saw the one waitress come down to greet the new people and she was kissing their ass making it sound like our fault for why it took so long.

Yep that was dinner! For all of you reading never ever go to the Church Street Steakhouse in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Home for a rest

Well at least back to the Inn. Katie was not feeling so well so we pretty much shut it down at 8:30pm. I watched hockey and Katie slept. I had a few drinks and dozed off myself in the second peroid. What a long day.

Wait forgot the Creepy

So let me backtrack like an episode of Lost for a sec. The place where we stayed was called The Mariner’s Inn and if you look at the pictures it looks amazing. Beautiful scenery and a quiet atmosphere made for the perfect setting for a weekend away from the hustle and bustle. We also soon found out it was the perfect setting for a horror movie. There was a hint of creepy in the air from the moment we checked in and the guy working there appeared out of nowhere. He had this lurking quality to him that kind of made us uneasy. We got to the room and got settled but here are other examples of weird and creepy incidents.

  • They kept inviting us to the common room to watch satallite TV and to enjoy a fire. Now that is very nice but it was given in a sort of come and join us so we can cut you up into pieces nice.
  • I went out back to enjoy the view and some peace and another guy working there appeared out of nowhere and looked at me like I was some outsider that stumbled out of the woods. Most awkward conversation ever, I only wish I had it on tape.
  • Katie went out on the deck in the morning and the first creepy guy appeared on the deck next to us haha.
  • Just the way these two guys spoke it made the hairs on our arms stand up.

Sunday driving

We got up early Sunday and got packed and out of the Bates Motel and back on the road. The plan was to hit the Reversing Falls and get some food before hitting the highway. Well we reached the “Falls” and we less than impressed because it is not actually falls but more like reversing tides. It was still cool to see but I was a little let down. We dined at the local Tim Hortons and enjoyed some hot drinks and tasty breakfast sandwiches. I had gone well over 12 hours without tea so I was a little stressed haha.

The drive back to the Hali

Nothing to exciting to speak of. We split the duties again and Katie blew the doors off many a car. She also napped (when I was driving of course) and we made really good time getting home. Very good trip and I am sure I will be going back again since Katie will be spending many days there very soon.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and I am sorry for the blurry shots, I need a new camera stat!

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